This happened when my husband switched from
Spark to Vodafone. He had been talking great lengths about the deal with free
international calls and free Sky for a limited period of time.
It was the last Friday of the Term. I had
heaps of things on my mind that I had prioritized to complete while the
children were at school. PMIs for the Term, dropping our ‘Being Sea Smart’
brochures, anniversary reports and last but not the least putting all the
furniture in the middle of the class. This is usually accompanied with a
discovery of articles that were lost and you would think that you would never
find them again. Finally it was time to go home.
The next Term is a short Term and lots needed
to be done during the Term. I decided that I would try completing the things
that I can during the holidays. So I collected all the books and handouts and
arrived home. It took me two rounds to the car in the garage to bring
everything inside. I dumped my pile of books in a corner of the room with a big
sigh. This was when suddenly it struck to me that I had not completed the
assessment grid for the Term. No Worries! I thought. I have all the data and all
I have to do is transfer it to the School Assessment. It would just take10
minutes.
As I opened my laptop, I discovered that
there was no internet. Usually when I have such hick ups, my first course is to
yell out to my superbly smart technology daughter. “Why is the internet not
working” I said in an authoritative voice. It almost made me sound as if it is
all her fault for no internet at home. Out came a frustrated voice “ Dad has
changed companies”. “Then why did you not install the new modem?” I yelled out
again. “Because we have changed from ADSL to VDSL and someone has to come from
the company to install it. It cannot be done by us” replied my daughter from
her room. Immediately I picked up the phone and called my husband. He was
unavailable! I did not know what to do? I felt so unequipped without internet.
Oh I know I thought, I could post all the
blogs: No! I cannot, came the thought the very next second. I could start doing
my unit plan for Next Term! But the framework for it is on Google docs. Oh I
know I thought to myself, I could relax “ watch my favourite series” Oops no
internet again. Do baking I decided finally. Chocolate cake for everyone! Last
time I made one, did not come out soft enough. So decided to accurately follow
the steps and the measures in the recipe. I particularly like one by Jamie
Oliver. What did I say “Jamie Oliver” Disaster! The recipe is on his website. Right
Skype mum: She has been complaining ever since. She cannot hear clearly on the
phone so prefers Skype. Oh No! No Internet. By this time I was beginning to feel
like an absolute handicap. Oh I’ll ring her I thought. She delivered her long
as blessings to start with and then said “Come on Skype” I told her that my Skype
was not working. She chuckled and said, “Why I thought power cuts are only in
India”. I was so tired that I did not want to explain her my plight because she
would anyway not understand why internet is not available in my house.
I went to bed and thought, how incapable we
are without technology in today’s world.
Being a teacher of this changing era, where
technology is required at every step, is it not important that all students
should have access to the gadgets that will assist them in knowing and learning
about the world?
Guess what! I have found a vision for my year
3-4 team. It is to get fully digital in the next two years.
My next Step: Start fundraising for
netbooks in the middle syndicate!
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